Gold Award

Christie Frandsen teared up in the Lanterman Auditorium on Sunday afternoon as she commenced the 2011 La Cañada Girl Scout awards ceremony. “This ceremony is a bit emotional for me because my baby is here receiving her Gold Award,” Frandsen said. Frandsen’s daughter Eva was one of 24 young women receiving the Gold Award, the highest honor a Girl Scout can achieve and one that recognizes a Scout’s commitment of 65 or more hours to a volunteer service project. Gold Award recipients Kathryn Battaglia and Samantha Smith of Troop 5611 collaborated on a project to replace and restock a dilapidated library at the Can-Do Kids Club, an after-school program for at-risk youth in Pasadena.

Senior Troop No. 280 Girl Scout Markie Dietel, a sophomore at La Cañada High School, is organizing a school supply drive for foster/adoption agency ChildShare for her Gold Award project. Help her by donating school supplies for foster children to start the new school year and to use when they are placed in their new foster home. When foster children go to their new home, they have absolutely nothing, so Dietel is helping them acquire the supplies they need. Items needed are backpacks, pencils, markers, glue sticks, toothbrushes, pencil cases, scissors, rulers, erasers lined paper and toothpaste.

Over 290 girls walked across the stage to receive awards ranging from the Bronze to Gold Award. The night began with the presentation of the American flag by Troop 889, with leader Joe Puglia. "It takes a real man to be a Girl Scout leader," joked Christie Frandsen, master of ceremonies. Both La Cañada Mayor Dave Spence and Assemblyman Anthony Portantino spoke to the girls on the pride that they bring not only to their families but to their community. The night then turned to the many awards for community service projects and hours served by Troop 290 Girl Scouts.

Girl Scouts express their gratitude La Cañada Elementary Junior Girl Scout Troop 8901 coordinated a citywide food supply drive to support the Pasadena Ronald McDonald House. There were so many donations the Ronald McDonald food storage facility was packed. The girls would like to send out a huge “thank you” to the residents of La Cañada for their generous support. Gold Award project screening Feb. 23 Kathryn Christensen is senior Girl Scout working on her Gold Award.

Once Upon a Time Bookstore presents a storytelling fund-raiser day to assist Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles in setting up a library. Girl Scout Troop 304 member Meagan Decker is undertaking this project for her scout Gold Award. Local high school students will be reading popular children's stories every 30 minutes. Admission to the readings is a new or used children's book. Book should be at the fourth grad reading level or below. Decker hopes to collect 150 for the hospital.

La Cañada Presbyterian Church's youth ministry will screen the "Invisible Children" at 7 p.m. on Jan. 12. in Burcham Hall, at 626 Footihll Blvd. in La Cañada. A follow-up question and answer session will follow, moderated by Ruth Barber, a senior Girl Scout working to achieve her Gold Award. This project will serve Ugandan children who flee their homes each night to escape abduction into the rebel army, where the rebels abduct young children into its ranks. Additionally, these children need donations of blankets, mats, pillows, clothes, shoes, stuffed animals or money.

Families, friends, and dignitaries recently gathered at the La Cañada Girl Scout Association community-wide Gold, Silver, Bronze Ceremony at Lanterman Auditorium. The annual event opened with a flag ceremony by Troop 576, a traditional scout song led by Troops 592 and 989, and a nondenominational invocation by Father Matt Elshoff. La Cañada Service Unit Manager Christie Frandsen was the Master of Ceremonies over the two-hour presentation. The Bronze Award for Junior Girl Scouts was the first honor to be presented to 79 fifth and sixth graders for their work on a troop project.

La Cañada Girl Scout Leaders were recognized for their great guidance, dedication and hard work on June 1. La Cañada is the largest Service Unit in the local Mount Wilson Vista Council. There are 1,036 Girl Scouts and 93 troops in this community. Due to their leaders, these girls had unparalleled experiences and completed amazing community service projects. When it comes to community service and Girl Scout awards, La Cañada is a community that stands out. Nationally, only 1% nationwide of Girl Scouts earn the coveted Gold Award.

Kristyn Bockman Kristyn Heather Bockman is the daughter of Craig and Lindy Bockman and the granddaughter of Jan and the late Alan Bockman, and Joanne and the late Kenneth Drost. Kristyn is a senior at La Cañada High School. Kristyn has been a member of Girl Scouts since Kindergarten. She is currently working on her Gold Award project: sending books, DVDs and inspirational letters from grade school children to the troops in Iraq. Kristyn maintains a 4.0 grade point average and works part-time at a law firm.

A group of 50 Gold Award Girl Scouts will march down Colorado Boulevard on Jan. 1 in the Rose Parade . The girls will be a part of the Tournament Troop, which carries banners to announce the floats during the parade. Four of the Girl Scouts are from La Cañada Flintridge: Tracey Andrews, Lauren James, Andrea Klein and Erika Weiler. “We look forward to honoring so many amazing girls for stepping up to make this world a better place,” Lise L. Luttgens, chief executive officer, Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles, said in a statement.

Madeleine Fisher of La Cañada Flintridge, a volunteer candy striper at Huntington Memorial Hospital and an active Girl Scout since the first grade, is putting the finishing touches on her Gold Award project this summer. As part of her project, Fisher has assembled 150 activity bags for the siblings of infants at the Pasadena hospital's neonatal intensive care unit. She has also collected clothing, blankets and diapers that will be donated to Elizabeth House to assist homeless women who are expecting babies.

La Cañada Flintridge is Girl Scouts country, and on Sunday the most recent class of accomplished young women took the stage at Lanterman Auditorium in acknowledgment of their accomplishments. This year 29 young women received the Gold Award, a high honor equivalent to earning an Eagle Scouts badge in the Boy Scouts. Christie Frandsen, mother of five Girl Scouts and leader of La Cañada Troop 3631, served as master of ceremonies. She said La Cañada is home to nearly 100 troops, about 1,000 Girl Scouts and more than 700 adult volunteers.

Christie Frandsen teared up in the Lanterman Auditorium on Sunday afternoon as she commenced the 2011 La Cañada Girl Scout awards ceremony. “This ceremony is a bit emotional for me because my baby is here receiving her Gold Award,” Frandsen said. Frandsen’s daughter Eva was one of 24 young women receiving the Gold Award, the highest honor a Girl Scout can achieve and one that recognizes a Scout’s commitment of 65 or more hours to a volunteer service project. Gold Award recipients Kathryn Battaglia and Samantha Smith of Troop 5611 collaborated on a project to replace and restock a dilapidated library at the Can-Do Kids Club, an after-school program for at-risk youth in Pasadena.

Five La Cañada residents will receive the Les Tupper Award at a ceremony May 10 in von Karman Auditorium at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The annual awards are sponsored by the La Cañada Flintridge Coordinating Council, which solicits nominations from the community. This year’s honorees boast an array of volunteer work, from positions at La Cañada Valley Beautiful and Spartan Booster Club, to work in La Cañada High School’s PTSA, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and more.

Five La Cañada residents will be given one of the community’s most prestigious honors, the Les Tupper Award, at a ceremony May 10 in von Karman Auditorium at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The annual awards are sponsored by the La Cañada Flintridge Coordinating Council, which solicits nominations from the community. This year’s honorees boast an array of volunteer work, from positions at La Cañada Valley Beautiful and Spartan Booster Club, to work in La Cañada High School’s PTSA, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and more.

Girl Scout Kelly Arthur, 17, looked to her passion when deciding what volunteer project she’d like to explore for her Gold Award. Arthur is a member of Troop 2801 and she received the award, which is similar to becoming an Eagle Scout in Boy Scouts, in June. “It’s a culmination of all you’ve learned in Girl Scouts and you apply that to a project,” she said. The La Cañada High School senior has raised funds to purchase cleaning supplies and toys for the Glendale Humane Society since ninth grade as an officer of the Animal Aid Club, a campus organization, she said.

The Girl Scout sisterhood was highlighted on Sunday at the Lanterman Auditorium when 355 girls received the Bronze, Silver and Gold awards as well as Senior Leadership and Ten Year awards. Twenty-six girls bridged to adults during the ceremony. “This has been quite a year of change,” said Christie Frandsen, master of ceremonies. Frandsen spoke about changes in the country with the economic downturn and the “history making” election of President Barack Obama.

It was a typical Sunday afternoon April 26 at Memorial Park: Dads and their kids were flying kites, others kids played on the swing set and the sounds of heavy metal filled the air. Well, maybe it wasn?t exactly typical. Heavy metal and alternative bands battled their way through the afternoon for the first ?Battle of the Bands? for local artists. The musically inspired idea came from Girl Scouts from Troop 589, Caroline Reich and Julia Rowe as they were thinking of a Gold Award project.

The caring compassionate nature of this week’s Valley Sun All- Star is what makes her a standout in this community, said Christie Frandsen, leader of La Cañada Girl Scout Troop No. 363. Frandsen is referring to Sarah Olson, 14, a freshman at La Cañada High School, and a scout in Frandsen’s troop for about 10 years now. “I’ve loved watching Sarah grow into a beautiful, beautiful young woman. She is a fantastic girl and probably the most compassionate young girl I’ve ever met,” Frandsen said.